Emerging-leaders program encourages nonprofit pros

With many struggling to raise money during the worst financial downturn in decades, a new program is giving future nonprofit leaders hope about their short- and long-term prospects.

Called the Emerging Leaders In Development Program, the nine-month course is designed to educate fledgling fundraisers by giving them access to more-experienced mentors in the state.

“It’s been a life-changing opportunity for me,” said Patricia Stroud, development director for Denver Venture School, a startup charter school.

Stroud, 28, said she benefitted from the advice from more experienced fundraisers as well as the kinship she established with peers who took part in the program.

Participants set aside one day a month to learn about their occupation via panel discussions, seminars and networking. Topics include grant writing and how to convince members of the board of directors to give more money.

Participants also shadow their mentors once a month for insights on getting financial commitments during challenging economic times.

Organizations dedicated to helping nonprofits — such as the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Colorado Nonprofit Association and the Colorado Association of Funders — sponsorthe program. Classes for the most recent enrollees, who graduated May 29, were held at the University of Denver.

Dorothy Horrell, president and CEO of the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, said the conceptis modeled after other leadership-development programs, such as the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Denver.

Horrell chaired the initial steering committee for the emerging leaders program, and said it came about after studies showed there’s a need for new leadership in the nonprofit sector.

Despite layoffs, 28 percent of U.S. nonprofits expect to hire senior-level positions in 2009, according to a study of hiring patterns by The Bridgespan Group, a Boston-based firm that provides management consulting and executive recruitment for nonprofit clients.

The Bridgespan Group also estimates that at least 24,000 senior-level nonprofit jobs will be available this year.

“There’s been a good deal of turnover in the nonprofit world,” Horrell said. “We zeroed in on how to support the next generation of leaders.”

Horrell said the program is aimed at fundraisers who have stuck with careers in nonprofits for more than three years and “survived the initial washout period.”

The program is open to 12 people per session; about 30 applied for the first class.

Stroud said the program helped her think of creative ways to raise funds and to realize that today’s fundraising environment is “challenging, but not impossible.” And she said the program’s many networking opportunities set it apart.

“The best thing I took away was the relationships of the people I met,” she said. “Now I have a whole new network of folks I can turn to and rely on.”

Bob Mesko, a development director for the performing arts departmentat DU, said the program taught him that while donors might not be anxious to open their wallets right now, there are plenty of opportunities in the future.

“A strategy that many are looking at is starting conversations about planned gifts, such as making provisions in estate plans,” Mesko said. “That’s something that doesn’t involve a huge cash outlay. And as the economy comes back, you can go back to those people — and if the value of estate has changed for the better — ask them to consider making a better gift.”

Applications for the second class are due June 15; they’re at www.portfolio.du.edu/emergingleaders.com.